To the OP. The most important thing I learned through my Corvette ownership is..... never buy a new one! This is even more the case with a Corvette than most other vehicles because many Corvettes are coddled and babied - for example driven very few miles, never driven in the rain, always garaged, a...

Since you were over FRA at the time of his death your benefit should be automatically converted from benefits as a divorced spouse to benefits as a surviving divorced spouse. Your benefit amount will increase to the amount the deceased was receiving at the time of his death. The first month the ben...

Ally is screwing up big time, First they messed up adding my name as the Trustee on my wife's trust account, when orally they admitted their mistake multiple times, as they could see my name clearly on her Trust account papers they have on file & promised the correction & it took 4 phone calls, a f...

The company I work for recently (available in January of 2018) added a Lump sum payment option to their pension plan. I will retire in January of 2019 at age 55 and will have the below pension plan payment options available at retirement. I believe taking the lump sum is a no brainier, however seve...

I've experienced great returns from investing into Nvidia within my Roth IRA. If you would take some off the table, how much is optimal to maximize future growth while protecting against the downside? If you sell enough of the stock to reap your original investment in NVIDIA, your remaining shares ...

I vote for you to go ahead and buy a car that gives you enjoyment. It is too large an investment for it to just be "meh" and no fun. OTOH, I personally would say, "Can't you find a better car than the Land Rover?" My neighbors had one and got stranded in a rural area because it just stopped running,...

I don't know which is better but I do suggest doing your transfer way in advance of when you need it. I was buying a house and had parked nearly $200k at Ally. When I needed the money to close on the house I transferred it out of Ally but it "disappeared." It got lost somewhere in transit. They foun...

Go to youtube.com and search, then watch. I camp single, double, and with a large group of say 8 people. Let's say we are cooking on a stove a big one-pot meal such as Kung Pao chicken or Thai curry w/chicken or jambalaya. We will scrape out the pot with a spatula (nylon or silicone) to serve into ...

A V-Twin engine will give more torque and be easier to ride from a standing start. It helps in control of the bike especially with a second rider. I would start with a minimum of 800 cc for two up riding around town. Harleys make the most V-Twin bikes. They are American made, good quality, and sexy ...

Paul[/quote] I've only gotten into total market index funds and total bond index funds. There's nothing to micromanage. I'm just new to this investing thing, and I'm an upcoming software developer, so I like to tinker with something until I have control over it. So this watching something for years ...

A couple of ideas: -- Take a small amount of your portfolio, say 5%, and invest it as you wish by your own whim or theory. Maybe you will beat the market! Yay! But if the pot goes empty you got to leave the rest of the portfolio alone for a while. -- What I do when I get the twitch to tinker is reba...

I have so little in the IRA/Roth accounts. Should I still contribute the max every year? Is that the only option to get more money into tax advantaged accounts? I know I should talk to my accountant more about this. I have been avoiding that conversation. Thanks and appreciate any feedback. :shareb...

...you probably know that capital-gains are cancelled at the owner's death. This makes it usually worthwhile for elderly owners to continue holding unwanted but profitable securities. Rumor has it that providing a stepped up basis for inheritance of stocks might go away with the proposal to elimina...

WRT questions in red above, there are about 75 stocks in the portfolio, where the top 13 make up 25% of the value. Almost all domestic, all large/mid cap stocks. Current dividend yield across these stocks is about 2.2%. I am in the highest tax bracket, both marginal and capital gains. Using dividen...

How many stocks do you hold? If you have enough you may not gain anything by getting into an S&P 500 type index fund because you will already approach the volatility (risk) of the index fund. According to Malkiel's A Random Walk Down Wall Street : "...when thirty securities are selected for our port...

This stuff is not easy and I do not consider myself dumb. After reading Mike Piper's book (which I do recommend) my head hurt. I even wrote to Mike to ask him questions. I heartily recommend SocialSecuritySolutions.com which will run simulation for you to give you their best solution. Yeah it costs ...

Clearly from your personal finances it is not a questions of whether you can afford the car. My guess is that you are asking because you are afraid you will feel guilt and the question will be whether this guilt will outweigh the pleasure. I am a gearhead too, and I bought my first "luxury" car arou...

Aren't we supposed to look like Dork's when in our 60's? :D Or at least not care how we look? :D My daughter cares when she is seen with me! And soon I meet her new boyfriend and possibly his family! :) I just went to the "7 for All Mankind" website out of curiosity. I guess I have no fashion sense...

I wore Levis all my life. I liked them because they were cheap, reliable, and I did not have to think. I hate buying clothes. I pretty much wear jeans everyday for just about all occasions including going to parties and out to dinner. As I got older (60's) my daughter said that I look like a dork in...

Speakers that present the high frequency range of sound (tweeters) disperse sound less than 45 degrees off center axis. The sound becomes increasingly "muted" off that center because you lose the high frequencies. So you want the front speakers to be facing you, not shooting down from the ceiling. I...

My husband and I heard some Sonus Faber Cremona floor speakers a decade ago, at a Best Buy/Magnolia Stereo center. We literally had goosebumps from the sound. This past year, DH hunted down a pair (used) from an audio dealer in Canada, and bought them for my birthday. We then had to replace our 25 ...

I have a high end two speaker stereo system (approx $45k). I posted the story of how I ended up with it on Reddit, and in the hopes it may be instructive I am sharing this story with you. (Short answer: buy with your ears and heart, not by price, brand names or technical specs. Is the moral perhaps...

One other thing not covered: Bulk up that emergency fund: quit *investing* and double down on *saving* I would agree with this suggestion if your friend does not have enough to live on - then he should set aside more cash. OTOH if he does have access to some savings (not retirement funds) and can l...

I have a high end two speaker stereo system (approx $45k). I posted the story of how I ended up with it on Reddit, and in the hopes it may be instructive I am sharing this story with you. (Short answer: buy with your ears and heart, not by price, brand names or technical specs.) --------------------...

I want to disregard the financial perspective because it is obvious that the additional expense is a drain and the possibility of a capital gain is about the same as investing in equities over the long term. I have had two homes for a while (different two homes over the past 12 years) and the real ...

I want to disregard the financial perspective because it is obvious that the additional expense is a drain and the possibility of a capital gain is about the same as investing in equities over the long term. I have had two homes for a while (different two homes over the past 12 years) and the real i...

Ok gang, A little I learned today. So I have cash value of $2,700 for the policy, but my surrender is $2,800. It's calculated as such via the contract: $19.23 (the rate for surrender from my policy start age, which was 31) X the face value of $150,000 / 1,000 = $2,800. So as of today, I'd get $0 ca...

Hello all, As I'm sure many of you do, I maintain a nice excel spreadsheet for my portfolio which includes 401k, IRAs, savings etc. My question is, do I also include my 3rd party life insurance policy in these calculations? I have a 150k policy purchased in Oct 2013. The current cash value is a lit...

...If you hold individual bonds I assume that you would ladder them with the intent of letting them grow to maturity , then buy new ones at then current rates. So a bond ladder is a collection of bonds that mature at various times. A bond fund is a collection of bonds that mature at various times. ...

Individual bonds (or similar CDs) can make sense if the maturity of the bond (or CD) fits well with the expected need for the funds. So, for example, if you have the expected need for, say, $20,000 in 2022 - then bond(s) maturing in 2022 could make more sense than keeping in a bond fund. Yes, I tot...

Individual bonds (or similar CDs) can make sense if the maturity of the bond (or CD) fits well with the expected need for the funds. So, for example, if you have the expected need for, say, $20,000 in 2022 - then bond(s) maturing in 2022 could make more sense than keeping in a bond fund. Yes, I tot...

You are paying a premium for a potential insurance benefit payment in the event of a loss. The maximum amount of insurance benefit you can buy is limited by the value of your house. Presumably the cost of insurance per dollar of benefit, regardless of coverage amount, is the same because the underly...

I researched and considered this question at length last year and concluded I would stay with bond funds. My reasons are captured perfectly in this article. Falling off the bond ladder, March 3, 2014: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/falling-off-the-bond-ladder-2014-03-03 If you hold individual bond...

I upgraded my Win 8.1 laptop yesterday... I also had to hunt all over to find a total shut down button. I guess Microsoft wants the machine to stay on all the time to spy I guess. So they hid the power down stuff. On my Win 10 machine I right click on the little window pane in the left corner of th...

I have Windows 7 and Win 10 on two laptops. They both work fine for my needs. The only reason I have not yet upgraded my Win 7 machine to Win 10 is because there is no Win 10 driver for my old but very capable Canon MP950 printer. So I kept my old laptop at Win 7 to print when I need to which isn't ...

I have most of my money with Fidelity and I have an account manager who does not charge me anything. I have been very happy with them. Having said that, however, Fidelity does offer fee based services. I would just have the conversation with the rep and see what he has to say. Fidelity has some grea...

Thank you! Our WaterPik shower head is dying—after 8 years of regular use, it's developed irreconcilable leaks and the plastic mount is about to shear. I searched for the model specified at the top of this thread, and found Amazon now charges $156.22 (plus you have to buy the mount & hose separatel...

After researching shower heads, found this older thread. I miss having a handheld shower head. I'm in a rental now with a standard shower-head and I'd like to remove the current one (and keep it and place it back on when I leave)...and use one of these other heads in the meantime. I'm not very hand...